A place to ponder

“Procreation and ultimately death”

…would have been my answer to the question “what is the meaning of life?” asked to me by Paul, had I not been rushing for the tube in a bid to catch the Derby vs Forest FA Cup replay.

Paul was smartly dressed, spoke in a shallow American accent, and wore a name badge on which was inscribed ‘church of the latter day saints’. Paul and his accomplice had only managed to stop me in my desperate dash by blocking off the only part of the footpath outside my Sainsburys Local that wasn’t covered in ice. I’d seen harsher tactics in his nation’s contact sports.

I’m not sure what brought Paul out to play. Perhaps it was a reaction to the extensive Darwin coverage the BBC has broadcast of late, or maybe a quarter to eight on a mid week evening after two days of the worst weather seen in 18 years is a time when people are feeling particularly vulnerable and an opportune moment in which to force your own set of beliefs on innocent bystanders. Who knows.